


New Arachnius

by Timeline15



Series: Ghosts and Angels [4]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:00:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29005701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Timeline15/pseuds/Timeline15
Summary: Seeking something left behind in the Fright Zone, Entrapta and Hordak visit Scorpia as she leads the effort to rebuild her old kingdom. Much has changed since the Horde was disbanded, and getting what they're after may not be as easy as they expected...
Relationships: Entrapta & Scorpia (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra), Kyle/Lonnie/Rogelio (She-Ra)
Series: Ghosts and Angels [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1848541
Comments: 8
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> After a bit longer than intended, I'm back with my first fic of the year, and the next in my series of post-canon She-Ra stories. Apologies for the wait. Hope you like it!

The ship touched down with a soft thud, its engines buffeting the surrounding rocks with clouds of sand. From his seat at the controls, Hordak reflected that it was fortunate there had been an appropriately open area to land; kicking sand into the faces of the kingdom’s citizens would _not_ be the best first impression.

Arachnius, or ‘The Fright Zone’ as it had been known for the past two generations, had once been the kingdom of the scorpions, before Hordak and the forces he had amassed since his arrival on Etheria had successfully laid siege to it, forcing its king into surrender. Now, with the Horde dismantled, the kingdom had been turned over to its rightful ruler, and heir to said king: Scorpia.

Being back in the place he had called home for decades of his life was a strange experience for Hordak. The view from the air had been of jagged spires of rusted metal, broken machinery, and barren wastelands. Though assistance from the princesses (and of course, the effects of She-Ra’s release of Etheria’s magic) had returned much of the nature and climate of the kingdom to normal, there was clearly still much work to do in making it liveable for those who wished to return to their ancestral home.

As Hordak and Entrapta stepped out of their ship, Hordak looked up at the sky, lifting his arm to shield his eyes from the sun. Sunlight. In the Fright Zone. Bizarre. With Princess Spinnerella’s assistance, the blanket of smog that had once covered the kingdom had been cleared, making the area more hospitable, but also laying bare the extent of the damage done during Hordak’s time as ruler.

He tried not to dwell on that part too often, but being there in person made it difficult to ignore. How would the settlers react to his presence? Perhaps he should have stayed back in Brightmoon; surely Entrapta could have handled the mission herself. He was snapped out of his train of thought when Entrapta piped up.

“Hmm… didn’t Scorpia say she was going to meet us here?” the princess of Dryl asked as she took in her surroundings.

“I suspect her attention must have been required elsewhere” Hordak replied matter-of-factly. “The rebuilding efforts being conducted here would be extensive even for a kingdom with a much larger population; to attempt such a project with only a few dozen settlers is… ambitious to say the least. I imagine Scorpia has been quite busy of late.”

As it turned out, Hordak was very much correct. As the pair made the walk from their landing spot to the interior of the settlement, it became clear just how much work was going on. People rushed past them in every possible direction, carrying stacks of data pads or pushing carts of building materials. A few of the townspeople were scorpions like their princess, but the vast majority were members of various other races. Hordak suspected that most were former Horde soldiers, choosing to remain in the familiar surroundings of the Fright Zone rather than attempt to resettle elsewhere.

A few of the passers-by shot him glances as he walked. Some looked angry, some afraid, some simply surprised. He couldn’t blame them for any of the above; he had left a decidedly negative impact on the majority of them after all. He felt a frond of Entrapta’s hair grip his hand. Experience had taught him that this gesture was a sign of affection or reassurance; evidently she had seen the looks he was getting and was attempting to comfort him. He was surprised to find that the gesture was actually accomplishing its goal quite effectively; something about her touch made him more at ease somehow.

It wasn’t long before they found who they were looking for. As they reached the end on the street, the pair emerged into a large open area which, once paved, was likely going to serve as some sort of town square. Standing in the middle, fielding constant questions and directing the workers around her, was Scorpia. Even from a distance, her wild arm movements and booming tone made it clear that she had not lost any of the distinctive enthusiasm she had been known to exhibit during her time in the Horde.

“Alright people; keep it up! We gotta get those shelters up by sundown! Salvage team, I want an update on that Horde tech by the end of- Oh! Hey you guys!” The scorpion princess’s already cheery demeanour lifted even further as she caught sight of Entrapta and Hordak. “I’ll be with ya in just a sec! ‘Scuse me; pardon me; coming through; oh wow I am _so_ sorry lemme just-” She began squeezing through the bustling crowd as gracefully as her towering frame allowed, eventually breaking through the scrum and jogging over to meet her visitors.

“Hey Scorpia!” Entrapta yelled excitedly, allowing herself to be pulled into a bear hug. Hordak looked on, worried that Scorpia might accidentally break Entrapta’s tiny frame. He breathed a silent sigh of relief when the former force captain set Entrapta down and the latter seemed no worse for wear, still beaming at her old friend.

“Man, it’s been _way_ too long since I’ve seen you guys” Scorpia said jovially. “You look _great_. Glad to see your hair got its blue back by the way Hordak; much more you.”

“Er… yes, thank you your highness” Hordak replied, still unaccustomed to small talk. “The gene therapy has been quite helpful in undoing some of Prime’s… modifications.”

“Glad to hear it. So, what brings you two to New Arachnius? I mean, not that I’d mind if you just stopped in for a visit, but you two aren’t exactly the visit-y type, so… what’s up?”

“Ah yes, the mission” said Hordak, grateful that the conversation was returning to business. “I understand that since beginning the rebuilding efforts on your kingdom, you’ve had an influx of old Horde recruits wishing to settle here.”

“Oh yeah, we’ve got loads of the ol’ crew. Y’know, it’s _so_ good to have so many friendly faces around- well, not always _friendly_ friendly, but… familiar I guess. Why do you ask?”

“It has come to my attention that a group of former Horde cadets is currently in possession of Imp. If possible, I would very much like him returned. Entrapta and I are about to embark on a particularly challenging project in Brightmoon, and we need all the assistance in the lab we can get. Imp’s functionality as both an assistant and a data recorder would not go unappreciated at this time.”

Hordak exchanged a brief glance with Entrapta. They had both agreed to withhold the fact that the ‘project’ that was taking up so much of their time in Brightmoon was the construction of a portal device designed to retrieve Queen Angella; better not to get anyone’s hopes up until the task was accomplished.

“ _Oh_ , you mean Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle” Scorpia answered. Hordak honestly didn’t remember any of those names, having always paid little mind to anyone below the rank of force captain during his time as leader, but Scorpia had always been sociable; if she had given him names, they were probably correct.

“Here” Scorpia continued, pulling out a crudely sketched map that she had somehow managed not to shred with her claws. “I’ll show you where their place is.”

* * *

Lonnie groaned as the sound of radio static roused her from her sleep. Imp had a tendency to cry during the night (if the bizarre electronic sound could even be _called_ crying), and it had resulted in her sleep schedule being somewhat disrupted, even with Kyle and Rogelio taking turns. Thankfully, the slit of light creeping through the curtains told her that it was at least morning this time.

“Urgh, Kyle, Imp’s crying again. Go rock him or something” she mumbled without turning to face him.

“Nuh-uh” Kyle mumbled, still half asleep. “Your turn, remember?”

Lonnie rolled over, reluctantly opening her eyes again to squint at her bedfellows. Rogelio was out like a light, his need to bask every morning rendering him a late starter. Kyle on the other hand was clearly awake, but wasn’t caving to her tired glare, having become much more assertive in the months since the three had left the Horde.

Lonnie could see that that she clearly wasn’t getting any help. “Urgh, _fine_ ” she relented. “I’ll be back in a sec.”

“You’re the best Lonnie” Kyle mumbled with a sleepy smile, giving her a lazy hug before she could move to get up. Rolling her eyes, she leant in and gave him a quick peck on the lips before sliding out of his grasp and trudging over to Imp’s cot.

The stone floor was cold under her bare feet. The house they were staying in had been abandoned since Scorpia’s people had last owned the kingdom. The Horde had had no need of any dwellings outside of the main fortress, so the rest of Arachnius had been left to the elements during the occupation. Lonnie hoped that once the main rebuilding effort was concluded, Scorpia would be able to spare someone to come and do the place up, including putting some carpets in.

All thoughts of her own discomfort faded from her mind though the instant she laid eyes on Imp. The strange little creature was lying on his back in his cot, flailing his little arms and emitting noises that sounded like something one might hear from an improperly tuned radio.

Lonnie still found it strange to see the being who had been so intimidating as Hordak’s eyes and ears back in the Horde days looking so… helpless. She had never been sure of the extent of Imp’s autonomy or intelligence when she used to see him creeping around the Fright Zone; was he a person, animal, robot? Now though, she was fairly certain: he was a child.

A tiny, hollow laugh escaped her lips; that word could have been used to describe pretty much all of them back when they had started training for the Horde’s war. That was what the Horde did; take in people too naïve to know any better and turn them into weapons.

Imp let out another burst of static. Lonnie snapped back to reality. “Right, baby crying. Feel sorry for yourself later Lonnie” she whispered to herself, bending down and lifting the small creature into her arms.

“Shhhhh. It’s okay Imp, it’s okay; Lonnie’s here.” She whispered into the young clone’s ear, rocking him slightly as she did so. Imp seemed to calm down almost instantly, stopping his wailing and relaxing his head against her chest. Lonnie wondered if Hordak had ever had to do this back in the day, and had to supress a chuckle at the mental image.

A knock at the door shook her out of her imagination. She swore under her breath, before letting out a sigh of relief at the fact that Imp still appeared calm and drowsy. Scorpia had urged her to get better at keeping her temper now that it was peacetime, but anyone responsible for making her soothe a crying baby twice in one night was going to leave with a fat lip.

Setting Imp gently back into his cot, she walked out to answer the door. The sight that met her was possibly the last person she had ever expected to see again. Standing in the doorway, towering over her, was Hordak.

“Hello cadet. Might I have a word?”


	2. Chapter 2

Hordak towered over Lonnie as he stood on her doorstep. He looked less…angry, than she remembered him, but his stature was imposing all the same. Lonnie suddenly felt very underdressed standing in front of her former boss in her pyjamas. She didn’t work for him anymore, but something about the aura he gave off made one feel as though anyone talking to him should be in uniform.

“H-Hordak?!” she stammered. “What the hell are you doing here?!” She instantly winced at her own bluntness. She expected to be snarled at, or worse, but as she tensed, no attack came. Hordak’s expression was difficult to decipher, but he seemed calm. It made sense of course, Lonnie reminded herself with a clearer head; he was working with the princesses these days. They had likely curbed some of his more…volatile instincts.

“I am here” Hordak began matter-of-factly “because Princess Scorpia tells me that you can help me.”

“Oh, okay” Lonnie replied, wondering what bizarre science project Scorpia had roped them into. “Do you need me to go wake Kyle and Rogelio?”

“Your former squad mates… live with you?” Hordak asked. “Well, it is good to see that your old unit structure still provides you comfort even in the Horde’s absence.”

“Uh, yeah… sure.” Lonnie mumbled. She had half a mind to explain to him in full detail exactly the kind of ‘comfort’ Kyle and Rogelio had provided her the night before, just to see if his head would explode, but she decided that there were some things she would rather Hordak not know. “So… what was this thing you wanted our help with?”

“It is not something that I need you to _do,_ rather that I need something you _have_ ” Hordak answered. “I have been informed that you three are the ones currently in custody of Imp. I would like to request that you return him. His assistance would be most useful at my laboratory in Brightmoon.”

For a brief moment, Lonnie found herself unable to answer. She wasn’t sure what it was about Hordak’s request that had left her so dumbfounded; Imp was _his_ clone after all. It wasn’t that strange that he might want him back, but something about the whole situation felt… wrong somehow.

“I, uh… What do you even want him for anyway?”

Hordak let out an irritated sigh. “If I were to explain to you the experiments Entrapta and I are carrying out in Brightmoon, would you even begin to understand them?”

Lonnie bristled at his condescension. Hordak had never exactly been the friendly type, even among those much closer to him than she was, so she hadn’t been expecting pleasantries; but to show up at her door demanding that she hand over her… her _what_?

Lonnie wasn’t sure how she had meant to finish that thought. Imp wasn’t hers; never was. She, Kyle and Rogelio hadn’t even planned to take him when they decided to leave the Horde. They had been all packed up and ready to go when they had run into the creature in a corridor. They had frozen at first, afraid he was performing some sort of surveillance; that he might report them to someone.

After the initial shock had faded though, they had noticed that Imp was displaying none of the malice or mischief they had come to expect during his time as Hordak’s eyes and ears. He had looked… scared. He was just scampering around the rubble left in the wake of the galactic Horde’s arrival, nearly jumping out of his skin at every footstep or clank of metal. “Hmph, I know the feeling” Lonnie remembered thinking to herself. Perhaps that was why, in that instant, the three had looked at one another and, without exchanging a word, decided to take him with them. Kyle had coaxed him over with a ration bar, fashioned a makeshift papoose, and the four had set off together, with no idea where they were planning to go.

It had been a miracle that they survived the crossfire of the rebellion’s final battle against Horde Prime, and more miraculous still that they were all able to stay together now; back in the kingdom they were raised in no less; thanks to Scorpia’s kind offer of a house in the very much work-in-progress city. The road to get to where they now were had been a bumpy one, but, at least in Lonnie’s opinion, it had been worth it. The idea of Hordak showing back up and upending it filled her with an anger that only her instinct for self-preservation was enabling her to supress.

“No” she replied indignantly. “I guess I wouldn’t. But that doesn’t mean you don’t owe us an explanation. We’ve looked after Imp for _weeks_ while you hung around with your new princess pals, and you didn’t even think to come looking for him until you _needed_ him for something! So if you wanna take him away, you’d better have a _damn_ good reason.”

She gasped as soon as the words left her mouth, shocked at her own gall. Running your mouth in the Horde had been a very quick way of earning a trip to a cell for the night. But, as she had to keep reminding herself, this kingdom wasn’t the Horde anymore. Hordak, though visibly smarting from her challenge, made no attempt to threaten her. He simply gripped his own robes with one claw and continued as if he hadn’t noticed.

“Very well then… ‘Lonnie’ was it? We shall _talk_. May I enter?”

“I uh… just a sec” She stammered, realising that she should probably get the others out of bed and vaguely decent first. She closed the door over, jogged back to the bedroom, and shook her partners awake. It took some effort and a blast from a sunlamp to get Rogelio up and about, but she managed.

“Urgh… what’s going on?” Kyle mumbled groggily.

“House guest” Lonnie replied flatly. “Come on out to the front room when you’re ready, we’ve gotta talk business. And Kyle?”

“Yeah?”

“You might wanna put some pants on.”

* * *

Entrapta and Scorpia made their way through the spacious streets of the burgeoning city. After Hordak had offered to go and retrieve Imp alone, Scorpia had jumped on the opportunity to give Entrapta a guided tour of all of New Arachnius’ sights. Of course, as the city was still in the fairly early stages of construction, it was more of a tour of where things were _going_ to be, but Entrapta was enjoying herself nonetheless. It was nice to see Scorpia so excited an optimistic about her work.

“Okay, so… Market: seen that. Town hall: check. Minimalist yet cosy residential area: double check. Oh! I know! There’s one more place I’ve just _gotta_ show you. C’mon!”

Scorpia took Entrapta’s hand in a surprisingly gently pincer and led her to one of the many side streets. It looked much like the others except for the fact that this one was closed off by a large gate that seemed to have been fashioned out of salvaged metal. The metal pieces had been twisted into intricate shapes, giving the gate an almost ornate appearance.

“Scorpia, what _is_ this place?” Entrapta asked as she studies the gate curiously.

“Oh, just wait. You’re gonna _love_ this” Scorpia beamed in response, throwing open the gate and leading Entrapta through the alleyway beyond.

The pair emerged in another open area, laid out much like the main town square, but about thirty percent smaller. What caught Entrapta’s eye though, was the difference in its occupants. The square was teeming with activity, with citizens bustling about from place to place, and every single one of them, as far as the eye could see, was a Horde clone.

“Entrapta, welcome to the Clone District” Scorpia announced with as much gravitas as she could. “Pretty cool huh? I figured the clones would need a place to go and, well, since almost everyone else here is ex-Horde too it just kinda… made sense, y’know? So, whaddya think?”

“Scorpia it’s… it’s great!” Entrapta shrieked. “Think of how the clones’ culture will develop as a microcosm within a larger settlement! Oh I can just _imagine_ the field work I could do here!”

“Heh, knew you’d like it” Scorpia smirked.

Entrapta gazed out at the crowd of clones. Most were chatting happily in various groups, or helping one another to construct dwellings and shops. A few though, were gathered around a raised stage, where another clone was giving some sort of impassioned speech to the others. Entrapta couldn’t make out the words from where she was stood, but she recognised the clone’s enthusiastic demeanour a mile away.

“Hey… is that Wrong Hordak?!”

“Sure is” Scorpia replied. “Let me tell ya, he’s made _quite_ the name for himself since the clones were freed. He was the one who convinced them all to take my offer and come stay here. I hear he’s even planning running for mayor of the district soon.”

“Entrapta smiled tearfully at how far the once helpless clone had come. It was wonderful how much he had come out of his shell now that he was no longer in Prime’s shadow. The train of thought led her back to her own Hordak, and the changes he had made in just the short time they had been in Brightmoon together. She had been apprehensive when he had volunteered to retrieve Imp on his own; he wasn’t exactly one for conversation (well, other than with her at least). Still, he had already improved so much; she owed it to him to let him try things his way. “I’m sure he’s doing fine” she thought to herself.

* * *

Lonnie was staring at Hordak as the imposing clone sat in the chair opposite her. Kyle and Rogelio were seated to her left and right, the latter cradling Imp in his arms.

“So then” Hordak sighed “what is it that you want to know?”

“Well for starters, I’d like to know what’s so important that you need to take Imp away from us” Lonnie replied, keeping her voice as level as she could.

“That’s… The experiment Entrapta and I are currently conducting is… classified.”

Lonnie certainly hadn’t been expecting that. “Classified how? Does Queen Glimmer know about it?”

“Of course. It’s all been fully sanctioned. The queen simply feels that it is not yet time to go public.”

“Okay, fine, whatever. Tell us about Imp then. What do you need him so badly for?”

“It is not an exaggeration to say that this experiment will be the most difficult task that either Entrapta or I have ever worked on. We simply believe it would be prudent to have the laboratory operating at maximum efficiency. Imp was the closest thing I had to an assistant before Entrapta came along; I’m certain he will prove useful in multiple-”

“You don’t even need him for something specific?!” Lonnie hadn’t meant to shout, but she had never been the best at controlling her emotions, and Hordak had pushed his luck too far. “You leave him here, with us, for _weeks_ , without even trying to come check on him, and now you show up and ask us to just hand him back to you because you _might_ need him?! What the hell give you the right?!”

Hordak rose from his chair in a flash, his temper finally depleted. “Right? I _created_ him; _grew_ him from cells of my own body, and where my own DNA fell short, I augmented him so that he could function, communicate, live a normal life. I could have cast him out, like Prime would have done to such a sickly clone, but I did not! Do NOT presume to know him better than I do because you’ve decided to play mother for a few weeks!”

“Okay, okay, let’s just take a step back. Wouldn’t want anyone to get upset” Kyle interjected, gesturing to an increasingly scared-looking Imp being rocked by Rogelio.

“…Very well” Hordak sighed, slumping back into his chair. Lonnie remained where she was, her hands balled into fists.

“Lonnie” Kyle whispered, locking eyes with her “please”.

“… Okay” she relented, letting out a deep breath she hadn’t realised she had been holding.

“All I was trying to say” Hordak continued once Lonnie had sat back down “is that you three understand _nothing_ of my kind’s physiology; how can you ever hope to properly maintain Imp?”

“You mean _take care_ of him?” Lonnie bit back. “He’s not a piece of tech y’know.”

“Strictly speaking, roughly forty percent of his body _is_ ” Hordak replied without a hint of humour “but yes, if you prefer ‘take care of him’. How do you intend to do so? You can’t possibly know how to meet even his basic needs.”

“Uh, we’ve been doing just fine for the past few weeks y’know, while you were off goofing around with Entrapta. We feed him when he’s hungry, put him to bed when he’s tired, and play with him when he’s bored, _which_ , by the way, is a lot better than just leaving him to roam around the fright zone.”

“You have been… feeding him?” Hordak exclaimed with more surprise than Lonnie had been expecting.

“Yeah… Of course we have. Even got him onto solid foods recently. His favourite’s mashed sweet potatoes by the way; another thing we know about him that you don’t.”

“No, no, you’re missing the point” Hordak went on, ignoring her jibes entirely. “My kind are sustained purely by nutrient-rich amniotic fluid injected through our access ports. You expect me to believe he survived without it for weeks on end until you taught him to… ingest Etherian plant matter?”

“Well no, before he started eating solids I just-” Lonnie stopped herself, realising that trying to explain to Hordak how humans fed their babies would open up a rabbit hole she had no intention of going down. “let’s just say, we had access to an _alternative_ food source for him.”

“Hmm, very well” Hordak conceded. “And what of his cybernetic implants? Unless one of you is far more adept at working with machinery than you appear, I fail to see how you are going to maintain-”

“None of this matters!” Kyle blurted out, quietly enough as to not startle Imp. Lonnie’s jaw dropped at his outburst nonetheless; even now, outbursts like that weren’t like him.

“Look” Kyle continued “We’re not trying to say we know everything. We’ve got the basics down, and everything else, we can get help with. We can ask Entrapta about tech, or the clones about Horde biology. We can make it work. But _none_ of that is what’s actually important here; not your experiment, not what the three of us want. The only thing that matters, is what _Imp_ wants.”

Lonnie cast her eyes down to the floor. Kyle was right, and she knew it. She and Hordak could compete all they wanted, but it all came to nothing if it made Imp miserable.

“Okay, yeah. Yeah you’re right” she sighed.

“I suppose the princesses would likely say the same if they were here” Hordak conceded.

“Okay then” said Kyle, turning to the baby clone in Rogelio’s arms. The tiny clone may have acted a lot like a baby, but Kyle was fairly sure that he at least understood human speech. “Imp, who do _you_ wanna live with?”

Rogelio set Imp down gently onto the floor. Neither Lonnie nor Hordak made any attempts to beckon him over; if it was to be his decision then it was to be his alone. Lonnie had half expected her former boss to threaten Imp, or simply command him, but she was relieved to see that, at least in some respect, he had bettered himself since they had last met.

Imp looked ponderously around the room for a moment, staring into the faces of all in attendance. His indecision lasted all of two seconds before he scampered across the room, clambered up Lonnie’s leg, and plopped himself into her arms.

Lonnie had always considered herself the tough one of the group. Someone had to be. Growing up in the Horde had demanded it. Adora has been the strongest of course, but she had always been too preoccupied with Catra to ever protect the rest of them. So Lonnie had stepped up, fought for everything the three of them ever had, made sure anyone who tried to take their rations went away with a black eye, that sort of thing. She was tough, and in the horde, the tough don’t show weakness. She was surprised, therefore, at the tears uncontrollably welling up in her eyes as she stared down at the tiny clone cradled in her arms.

“Th-thank you” she whispered. Imp nuzzled his head against her torso in response.

“Well then” Hordak announced, rising from his chair “it would seem that Imp has made his decision, and I’m certain Entrapta would disapprove if I were to… escalate this matter further. I shall just have to complete the experiment myself. I will leave you all to your morning.” Without another word, he made for the door.

“Hordak?” Lonnie called after him, for reasons unknown even to herself. Hordak stopped in the doorway, but didn’t turn to face her. “Are you… okay?”

“Quite” Hordak replied, his tone indiscernible. “Thank you for accommodating me cade-… Lonnie.” He shut the door behind him without another word.

* * *

Entrapta and Scorpia were making their way back to the main square when they caught sight of Hordak. Entrapta noticed immediately that he was alone. Without wasting a second, she scurried over to him, leaving Scorpia struggling to keep up.

“Hordak!” Entrapta shouted as she met her lab partner in the middle of the square “Where’s Imp? Did you have trouble finding the right house? I’m sure I can draw up a more accurate map. I didn’t wanna say anything but Scorpia’s cartography leaves a _lot_ to be desired and-”

“Entrapta” Hordak cut her off. “That will not be necessary. I had no issue finding Imp. He simply… expressed his desire to remain here.”

“Oh…. oh. And that’s… okay?”

“It is… less than ideal, but I believe we will be able to accomplish our task even without his assistance.” Hordak’s face was a stoic mask, but she knew him more than well enough to read it.

“I wasn’t asking about his _function_ ; I was asking if you’re okay with it. He was always around back in our old lab. Aren’t you gonna miss him?”

Hordak looked as though he was thinking for a moment. “Perhaps” he answered. “But I have been led to believe that prioritising the happiness of others over one’s own is considered a laudable trait on Etheria.”

“Very laudable” Entrapta beamed up at him. He may have retained his gruff, imposing exterior, but he really had come far in such a short time, whether anyone besides her had taken notice of it or not.

“I’m here, I’m here!” Scorpia panted as she jogged up behind her. “Whoo, you can really move on those ponytails. So what’s going on? Are you guys taking Imp?”

“No” Entrapta replied, turning her gaze up to Hordak. “I think he have everything we’re going to need.”

The work that would follow wasn’t going to be easy, but she knew there was nothing the two of them couldn’t accomplish together. And she was going to enjoy every second of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we go. Hope you enjoyed this latest instalment. I plan to write more stories in this series at some point, but I have some fics for other fandoms that I'm behind on right now, so I'm not sure when that will be. Thanks for reading!


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